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Name of organisation: ACE Africa
Tel: 055 30118
E-mail: aceafrica@wananchi.com
Website: www.ace-africa.org
Contact name: Augustine Wasonga
About the programme
ACE Africa (Kenya) started its Child-to-Child (CtC) activities in 2005. The programme was and is still funded by Comic Relief, UK. Working closely with both the Ministries of Education and Health, ACE Africa (Kenya) has developed and adopted training manuals for training teachers in the CtC method.
The CtC work at ACE Africa is currently being carried out in six Districts, five of which are in Kenya, whilst one is in Nyanza. Expansion work is ongoing in Tanzania. Each district has a minimum population of 100 primary schools. Officials from both ministries are involved in planning activities, developing manuals, providing input into actual training and constant monitoring of planned activities. The schools as part of the ministry carry out the implementation of the activities, whereby teachers oversee the pupils in the clubs and encourage them to undertake activities in the community which supports them.
Presently we have over 4000 children benefiting and directly participating in the activities in 148 schools.
Child-to-Child activities
The main purpose and focus is on HIV/AIDS awareness through education, training and knowledge on Child Rights, as part of ACE’s mitigation work in the community.
Encouraging child participation
Activities are introduced through formation of Health Clubs as a part of extra curricular activities and the aim is to input as much fun as possible. Children are encouraged to participate through, songs, dances, narratives, poems, participatory assessments, and home visits to OVC and PLWA.
We still use the 6 steps whereby children carry out a Needs Assessment of the issues in the community. They go home to find more about what the community thinks of the issue, come back to plan what to do after a brainstorming session, and then use the 4th step. They carry out the activity, in the 5th step they evaluate and in the 6th they do it again in a better way.
Involvement of schools and communities
There are 138 schools involved so far, numbers are growing among those not formally trained by adopting activities in neighbouring sites. In Tanzania, more are yet to be trained.
Child-to-Child activities are part of teaching and learning in subjects like music and social studies, where trained teachers are able to use it. But it is not wholly co-opted into all other classroom subjects.
Co-curricular activities include gardening skills and life skills. Skills are integrated into school life during activities which include: cleaning of compounds, provision of leaky tins at toilet sites, water tanks, fenced gates and sanitation prefects.
Links between school and community are forged through: visiting homes for orphaned and vulnerable children, people living with HIV/AIDS, cleaning market places, preparing land for the sick and growing food, teaching community through songs and poems at public gatherings and forums.
Community activities organised separate from the school take place at funerals, on church premises and during parent-teacher meetings.
The numbers of community members and parents involved grows annually from new schools and parents.
Evaluation
ACE evaluates through the ministry officials’ weekly inspection visits to the school. ACE employs field officers who make a follow up visit to ensure implementation is taking place.
Teachers and parents make recommendations on whether they want the activities to continue in their annual school meetings and, through participatory assessments, children are able to take stock of what they have each achieved at home and at school.
ACE organises teachers’ cluster meetings which provide a forum for teachers to share challenges and experiences. We have also adopted a CtC mentor programme to enhance sustainability in continuous monitoring of other schools.
The most evident change in CtC Schools is that children are actively participating in community issues and being listened to - unlike before when they (orphans and vulnerable children) were culturally sidelined. There is an acknowledgement from schools and communities that children can bring change. The visible evidence of active CtC clubs is: cleaner schools and pupils, care and support for orphans and vulnerable children and availability of food for such children, improved discipline, lower teen pregnancies, and higher levels of performance in school.
Delivery of Child-to-Child
Those given training are the Head teachers, who ensure overall administrative support to the programme. Next in line are 2 or 3 teachers per school, who will the man the clubs. In the community, the agricultural mentors and gardeners are trained in order to pass on this training to the pupils.
Trainers are qualified CtC Trainers of Teachers by the ministry of education and ACE officers.
Contents of training includes the CtC Approach, Health Needs Assessment, Role of Children in Health Promotion, Life Skills, Child Rights, HIV and AIDS, Record Keeping and Monitoring and Evaluation.
Child-to-Child Materials
Most of our training manual has been adopted from CtC Trust on HIV and AIDS.
The CtC Mentors training manual, CTC and HIV-AIDS Integrated curriculum have been adapted for our own use.
Date: January 2009
Source: ACE Africa
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